There is an injury cloud over India captain
Jasprit Bumrah, who left the field after bowling only one over after lunch on the second day of the New Year’s Test
in Sydney. Just after 2pm local time, he was seen out of his Test whites, leaving the dressing room with the team doctor and a security officer.
There has been concern around Bumrah’s workload on this tour. He has bowled 152.1 overs in nine innings, picking up 32 wickets at 13.06. He went past Bishan Bedi’s record for most wickets taken by an India bowler on a tour of Australia and was climbing up
the all-time list as well.
Bumrah had spent three of the last five overs of the morning session off the field. He had come back out for the final two overs and resumed the bowling for India after lunch. He began by beating Alex Carey’s bat with his first ball but his speeds were down, in the early 120s to early 130s (kph). Bumrah left the field immediately after bowling that over and was not seen until there were visuals on the broadcast of him leaving the SCG in a car.
At the end of the Melbourne Test, where he bowled 52 overs, his most in a Test match, Rohit Sharma had mentioned that there
was a worry of over-bowling him.
India do not have a designated vice-captain – Bumrah was actually the vice-captain and stepped up to lead the team when Rohit
decided to stand himself down from the final Test match owing to his poor form. It appeared as though Virat Kohli had taken over leading the team for the middle session of day two. India need to win the Sydney Test to retain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
“If somebody is in such a great form, you want to try and maximise that form how much ever you can,” Rohit had said. “And that is what we’ve been trying to do with Bumrah.
“But there comes a time where you need to step back a little bit and give him that little bit of extra breather as well. So, we’ve been very careful.
“I’ve been very careful. I talk to him about how he feels and stuff like that. So, yeah. Those things should be managed carefully. And I’m trying to do that on the field.”
Bumrah had previously spent a year out of the game in 2022, recovering from a stress fracture of the back.
